At the Battle of Karbala on the day of Ashura, Hussayn ibn Ali and most of his family were killed. Zayn al-Abidin survived because he was too sick to fight, and was bedridden. Afterwards, he was taken prisoner by the Umayyad forces and transported to Damascus where he was made a prisoner of the Caliph, Yazid I. After some years, he was freed, and returned to Medina where he lived a quiet life as a scholar and a teacher.